


Water Nymph

by Qwerty_2poynt0



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: (from Weirdie), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Animal Transformation, Chance Meetings, Everyone keeps sneaking up on Mira, Family Secrets, Fire Imp Kai, Giant Adam, How Do I Tag, Mischief, Prompt Fic, Talking Animals, Water Nymph Mira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 04:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15064772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty_2poynt0/pseuds/Qwerty_2poynt0
Summary: Mira walked closer to where Lake Superior eroded at the dirt. She crouched down and swirled her hands around in the water. Almost immediately, a fish swam up and started nibbling at her nail polish."Hey there little guy." She chuckled. The fish recoiled and she could practically hear it saying 'ew' at the taste. "Yeah, it's pretty gross tasting, isn't it?""I knew it!" Kai exclaimed, "You are a Nymph!"In which I use a random starting sentence prompt generator and the premise of the group being mythical creatures to make a fic.





	Water Nymph

**Author's Note:**

> _Because Mira needs more attention you guys!_

   They say everyone who looks into their family history will find a secret sooner or later. Mira wasn't sure she could look far enough to find whatever secrets had nested in the branches of her family tree. She had been asking around for the past week about stories and records and so on and so forth, but there was a straight up drop off in all the accounts she'd found. She stared out at Thunder Bay as all the other kids continued down the trail past the lookout balcony. Hopefully the teacher wouldn't notice she was gone for a while, she liked looking out at the water. It was calming.

    _Who were they?_

   She'd never known her grandparents, her grandmother had died and her grandfather had skipped town shortly after. Their daughter was all grown up anyway. But then she died giving birth and her husband was left with a child to ship off to boarding school. She didn't particularly blame him; he wasn't a man who could handle single parenthood and he always visited when he could.

   The sun was getting close to the horizon, but not by much. It was warm against her skin and painted the tree tops with its light.

   "Pretty isn't it?"

   "Whah-!" Mira backed away from the voice, pressing against the opposite railing.

   "Sorry, sorry!" The boy raised his hands in front of him. "I'm kind of bad about that."

   Mira blinked silently as she took his features in. The sun seemed to set his ginger hair on fire, ignited the edges of his eyes, turned his creamy skin porcelain, and glinted off his- wait.

   "You... have..." Mira raised a hand to point to the three inch horns that curled over his head. He glanced up and looked back at her with a mildly confused expression.

   "What, you've never seen a Fire Imp?"

   "No?" Mira squeaked. She wondered if maybe she had fallen asleep and was dreaming while half of her hung off the railing.

   "Well I guess that makes sense, Nymphs don't talk to other races that much."

   "Nymphs?"

   "Yeah? Where's the rest of your cove anyway?"

   "My what?"

   "Your cove. I've literally never seen a Nymph outside of a cove."

   "I don't  _have_ a cove- I'm not even a Nymph."

   "You're not?" He seemed deeply surprised and baffled.

   "I told you so." Said a voice from behind Mira. She jumped and spun around to back up down the walkway that led to the end of the lookout. The voice belonged to what seemed to be a boy standing on the drop off on the other side of the railing, but he was about the size of a two story building. His skin was like the bark on the trees and his eyes were the kind of near-black that fertile soil was.

   "But she  _has_ to be some kind of Nymph!" The Fire Imp boy argued, "How else can you explain the- and- 'cause like-" He vaguely waved in her general direction. The giant boy sighed.

   "Please excuse Kai, he overreacts a lot."

   "I do not!"

   Mira tapped the back of her hand three times. She didn't wake up, so she couldn't be dreaming.

   "This is freaky." She said mostly to herself.

   "You should probably get back to your... what's a group of humans called?" The giant wondered.

   "It depends on which kinds of humans are in the group." Kai told him. "I'm pretty sure that was a class."

   "Yes, your class."

   Mira looked between the boys a few moments.

   "... Why did you think I was a Nymph?"

   Both of them seemed mildly surprised.

   "Well I know a few burrowing owls who really seem to like you," Answered the giant, "And they have an affinity for Nymphs."

   "Plus, I just get this vibe from most Nymphs," Kai added, "Namely that they could kick my ass and get me to follow them to the edge of the atmosphere."

   "One of them  _did_ take you to the edge of the atmosphere." The giant boy deadpanned, "Then dropped you."

   "She caught me before I hit the ground."

   "Yeah, because I threatened to crush her."

   "And I told you how much I love and appreciate you for that, my lovely and wonderful Adam." Kai clasped his hands together and batted his eyes at the giant who rolled his eyes and smiled.

   "So you thought I was a Nymph because I was intimidating." Mira raised an eyebrow.

   "I mean..." Kai rubbed the back of his neck. "You are pretty intimidating. And you've got that... flowiness that a lot of Water Nymphs have."

   "And you do have the same nose as a Water Nymph I used to know." Adam put in.

   "Huh." Mira trailed off. She felt like that detail was important somehow, but at this point she was still wrapping her head around the idea that Fire Imps and giants existed. Her eyes drifted back to the bay. She'd been wanting to get down to the shoreline all day, but it hadn't been in the itinerary.

   "Hey... Adam, was it?"

   "Hm?"

   "Would you mind terribly getting me down to the shore?"

   Adam raised an eyebrow.

   "You sure about that?"

   "Yeah. You'd be surprised how little of the water I see for someone who lives in a bay city."

   "Can I come with?" Kai asked. The other two looked over to him. "What? I'm not hydrophilic."

   "Hydro _phobic._ " Adam corrected.

   "You sure about that?"

   Mira rolled her eyes. "So can I get that ride or not?"

   Adam shrugged and leaned forward, stretching his shoulder toward her. "Hop on."

   She carefully sat herself down on one of his shoulders and held on tight as he picked up Kai and placed him on his opposite shoulder. Adam made his way over the forest canopy and she squealed as he quickly made his way down the slope of the hills.

   "Amazing, right?!" Kai called to her through the wind buffeting their hair.

   "Yeah!"

   The ride was over too soon as they reached a place on the shoreline where there was enough space for Adam to let the two of them down. The serf lapped against the silt and the trees whispered with the lake breeze. Mira breathed in the earth and sun and water. She felt right here.

   "I love this place." Adam said. Mira turned to him and jumped due to his being rather suddenly normal sized.

   "How did you-"

   "It's a Jotun thing."

   "... I thought Jotuns were Norse?"

   Adam shrugged. "Vikings were the first to come to the New World."

   He had a point there. Adam looked back out at the water. "I've only ever known this place. There's a passage to Jotunheim over in Toronto, but I never really felt the need to go. This is home."

   "... You wouldn't happen to be the sleepy giant this park is named after?" Mira smiled over at Adam. He chuckled.

   "Nope, I pretty much never sleep."

   "I still say you need to sleep more dude." Kai said to him.

   "And I say you should be more careful with your fire thing, but are you?"

   Kai placed a flaming hand over his heart in a dramatic display of feigned offense. "Are you suggesting I deny my nature? Whilst denying the natural act of sleeping for once in your life?"

   Mira giggled. "He has a point."

   Adam waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah yeah, whatever."

   Mira smiled with Kai and walked closer to where Lake Superior eroded at the dirt. She crouched down and swirled her hands around in the water. Almost immediately, a fish swam up and started nibbling at her nail polish.

   "Hey there little guy." She chuckled. The fish recoiled and she could practically hear it saying 'ew' at the taste. "Yeah, it's pretty gross tasting, isn't it?" The fish changed tactics, grabbed onto one of her knuckles from the side, and tugged. "Oh you want me to go swimming?" She took the wriggling motions and glubbing sounds the fish made to mean 'Yes!'

   "Well gee, I wish I could, but I left my bathing suit back in the dorms."

   'Please?'

   Mira reached a second hand in and tapped the fish's forehead. "Maybe next time."

   The fish released her hand and sulked off.

   "I knew it!" Kai exclaimed, "You  _are_ a Nymph!"

   "What?" Mira turned around to face him. "I thought we already settled this."

   "You do realize you were just conversing with a fish, right?" Adam raised an eyebrow.

   "Well yeah, but that doesn't make me some kind of Nymph. Don't you have pets that you talk to?"

   "No." Both the boys said in unison.

   "Really? Huh. Well that's just a thing humans do." Mira turned back to the water and noticed a group of glubby noises and soft splashing. The fish was back, and it had brought a few friends. "Woah."

   The fish jumped up out of the water and Mira had this weird sensation that she knew what it meant.

   "You brought your friends here to meet me?"

   It glubbed affirmatively. Mira found it mildly unsettling that she knew for a fact it was an affirmative glub.

   "I'm guessing this is why you wanted me to come swimming with you."

   Another affirmative glub. The fish made its way over to another fish and brought it up to Mira.

   "Your sister? Uhm... nice to meet you?" She waved down at the second fish. She turned to Kai and Adam, silently asking if she was hallucinating.

   "Water Nymph." Kai told her definitively.

   The fish splashed to get her attention.

   "Oh! Sorry. Your brothers?"

   The introductions continued until she'd met all twenty of the fish's siblings, its parents, its grandparents, and fifteen of its uncles and aunts. She also managed to decipher that the fish's name was Splish.

   "Mira!!" She heard up at the top of the cliffside.

   "Oh no. How long have I been here?" She asked Adam.

   "About fifteen minutes?"

   "It's been more like twenty five, Adam. What is it with giants and not being able to tell time?"

   "I'm a  _Jotun_ Kai, there's a difference."

   "Guys," Mira interrupted, "Now is not the time, I am in  _so much_ trouble!"

   "Yeah, and how are you going to get back up there?" Kai pointed out, "Adam can't do his size changing thing and just drop you off back at the lookout when someone's right there."

   "So how do I get back up? I can't just climb there, that would take too long and I probably wouldn't make it."

   "You could take a portal." A voice said from the treeline.

   "Ah!" Mira jumped and backed away from the voice, "Would you people  _please_ stop  _doing that!"_

   "Ignore the weird guy," Adam said flatly, "He's the most annoying of the local Fae."

   A broad shouldered figure with a green scarf, purple skin, and hair too big for his head clutched at his heart. "Why Adam, I'm  _hurt_. Truly wounded. I'm only trying to help our new Nymph friend here."

   "And how would you do that?" Kai asked flatly.

   "Well first, she's gonna have to give me her name." The Fae held out his hand to Mira and she looked him over skeptically.

   "It's-"

   Kai and Adam smacked their hands over Mira's mouth before she could finish the sentence.

   "What are you, crazy?!" Kai squawked.

   "You don't give a Fae your name!" Adam chided.

   "Whmph-" Mira pried their hands from her face, "Why not?"

   "They can pretty much do whatever they want with you if they have it." Kai hissed, "And I'm pretty sure they steal a piece of your soul or something."

   "Kai, you come from the Underworld, you should know soul binding and splitting and such is reserved for Demons and Angels." The weird guy corrected him.

   "Wait, he knows your name," Mira pointed out, "How come that doesn't worry you?"

   "You really don't understand Fae rules, do you?" Kai asked rather dryly.

   "Well apparently not." Mira shot back.

   "We didn't  _give_ our names to him," Adam elaborated, "He just  _knows_ our names because we told him."

   "That doesn't make any sense." Mira said.

   "You would never survive a dinner with my cousins." Adam said, probably to himself.

   "Miiiiiiraaaaaaa!!"

   "Auuugh." Mira groaned. "What am I gonna do?"

   "Well miss, Mira was it?" The Fae smiled probably the most uncomfortable smile Mira had ever seen in her life at her. "I can get you where you need to be if you just say the magic words."

   "What magic words?" Mira was beyond exasperated at this point, and she'd only met this guy thirty seconds ago.

   "This isn't rocket science, what's the magic word?"

   "Mira where are you?!"

   "Uuuuhhhhh-- Please?" She blurted out frantically.

   "Bingo!" The creature snapped his fingers and suddenly the ground around Mira's feel lit up.

   "Wait-!" Kai and Adam reached out for her but she'd already fallen through the swirling light vortex. She had barely blinked when she fell a few feet through the air and to the ground with a clumsy thud, feeling like her every muscle was made of lead. The world swam through a darkened sepia filter before her eyes closed and everything went black.

~*~

   'Mira?'

   "Wh..." Mira struggled to push herself up from the... wood? She cracked her eyes open to see the planks of a pier beneath her. The air smelled of fur and water and night. She looked out at the waterfront to see the endless canopy of powdery stars reflected in the lake. "Where..."

   'Mira, darling?'

   "Who-" Mira whipped her head around to the voice and saw... an eel?

   'Mira?'

   "That's... my name." She scooched closer. "Where am I?"

   'Thunder Bay.'

   "I guess I should've figured that."

   'You aren't my Mira.'

   "What do you mean?"

   'My Mira is gone.'

   "Oh. I'm so sorry."

   'Why do you look like her, Nymph?'

   "I... don't know. Adam said I had the same nose as a Nymph he used to know."

   'Adam! I remember that boy.'

   "You know him?"

   'I used to.'

   "Oh, of course."

   'But my Mira was no Nymph. If she was, it could've been different.'

   "What do you mean?"

   'I could've been there for our daughter. But I broke the rules, and when my Mira died, I became this.'

   "Oh, I see."

   'I should've been there.'

   "I'm sure it's not your fault."

   The eel seemed to smile up at her wistfully.

   'You are very kind, Nymph.'

   "Please, call me Mira. It is my name, remember?"

   'How strange that is.'

   "Yeah. My dad says I'm named after my grandmother." Mira paused and blinked a moment, furrowing her brow. "Your daughter... did she marry someone named 'Fletcher'?"

   'That was his second name.'

   "You mean last name?"

   'The name she took on as a suffix, yes.'

   Mira blinked down at the eel a moment.

   "I think I know why I look like-"

   "Mira!"

   Mira snapped her head to the voice and saw a tall, lanky, wrinkled figure dashing down the pier toward her.

   "Ms. Ironwood!" Mira exclaimed, standing.

   "Mira, we've been looking for you since six, where have you been?" The teacher crouched down and took Mira's face in her remaining calloused hand fretfully.

   "I... went exploring? And fell asleep."

   "Then why didn't anybody in the shop see you walk by?"

   "The what?" Mira felt rather unobservant for not having noticed the two story gift shop on the shore.

   "Oh, you are in so much trouble young lady."

   "I know, I know." Mira slumped.

   Ms. Ironwood's severe expression softened into a small smile.

   "Well first, lets get you back to your dorm, alright?"

   Mira smiled back, "Yes ma'm."

   As Ms. Ironwood led her back down the dock, Mira looked back over her shoulder and waved at the still waters.

**Author's Note:**

> And in case it needed confirming: Yes, the air nymph that dropped Kai from the edge of the atmosphere was Vanessa.


End file.
